426 dry clutch?

therapture

I was riding today at RPMX and shattered (literally) a fiber plate in the clutch. When I pulled it apart immediately at the track to check it after hearing the rattling, I noticed a very dry looking clutch, I am used to seeing very wet looking plates in a 2-stroke. Don Lackey says this is a normal look for this bike when a rider is a hard clutch user (abuser? hehe) but I was wondering if anybody else had noticed this condition ? I mean the plates had some oil on them, but for sure, they were not messy like I am used to seeing. Nothing else was harmed because I stopped after hearing the rattle, and looks like a new fiber plate will cure the condition, very cheap.

On a side note, I had Don install some Gold Valve Type2's at both ends, and after a little bit of tweaking the baseline settings, I am very pleased with the suspension. Much better than stock, and a new Gripper seat cover makes acceleration a much nicer proposition because I don't slide to the back of the seat!

bbeakley

I recently had mine apart and although I've never owned a 2 smoke to know what "messy" is, all the plates had a good film of oil on them. Enough to pull the entire stack out at one time because they were sticking together.

therapture

Originally posted by thumper4life:Yes, yours is normal, unless mine isn't? But I had a plate shatter in the middle of the stack after landing excessivly hard. Rode it up to the barn, took it out and saw the plate, shattered.

Yeah the plate I broke was also in the middle...weird. Guess these 426's have so much torque that under the right conditions the heat and the load just overwhelm the plate.

*me wonders if the crystalline structure of the metal is being affected from such abuse and getting brittle*

I think I broke mine on a jump where I am pulling HARD in 4th gear to hit another double...I jump in 3rd,and shift to 4th in the air and nail the gas on the landing to get the speed for the next larger jump...

Mxer303

I put an aftermarket(Vortex) basket in mine, and it made my clutch much less grabby. When I took the stock one apart the metal plates looked like they had been burnt. My outer basket looked perfect, no grooves at all. It doesn't make that "gronch" sound with the new one, and takes off smoothly. The guy that owned mine before had drilled the inner basket for more flow, and a big chunk broke out of it. I also found the big nut holding the clutch on was loose. Needless to say, I'll be keeping a better watch on my clutch now.

therapture

Originally posted by Mxer303:I put an aftermarket(Vortex) basket in mine, and it made my clutch much less grabby. When I took the stock one apart the metal plates looked like they has been burnt.

Yeah my bike has the Hinson basket, but using the stock plate set. My metal plates were a bit "hot" looking, but I am told this is normal.

Anyway, I miked all the fiber plates, and other than the shattered one and one other that was damaged in the process, all the plates were flat and well above the minimum thickness spec. So 2 new plates and I am back in action.